Mark Cavendish denied shot at yellow as first stage ends in chaos

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Marcel Kittel avoided the melee to win the first stage of the Tour de FranceLaurent Rebours/AP

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Kitttel held off the challenge of Alexander Kristoff to take the yellow jerseyDoug Pensinger/Getty Images

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A crash six kilometres from the line took out Cavendish, Sagan and GreipelJoel Saget/AFP/Getty Images

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Cavendish had already voiced fears over the impact crashes may have this yearEric Gaillard/Reuters

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The Orica GreenEdge team bus got stuck under the finish line gantryJeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty Images

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The tyres were let down to free the bus and clear it the finish linePeter Dejong/AP

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The bus apparently took a wrong turn at the finish in BastiaMark Sellman

Jeremy WhittleCorsica

Last updated at 7:55PM, June 29 2013

We expected this first stage of the 100th Tour de France, from Bastia to Porto
Vecchio, to be explosive and, in many ways, it fulfilled all expectations.

In keeping with the mythical, romantic and sometimes surreal history of the
old race, the finale of the first stage of the centenary edition was
overshadowed, not by a doping scandal, or a tearful press conference from a
defrocked former champion, but by a stranded team bus.

The pictures of the Orica GreenEdge bus gingerly approaching the finish line,
being showered with debris, and the shame-faced driver then putting his head
in his